It's Complicated
by http.jate
Summary: Pre-Lost. A 20-year-old Jack tries to help a 16-year-old Kate through her messy life, while he is also worried about his first year in Med School.


Jacks friends had just left his house. That was his first semester in Med School and it still didnt seem real for him. It tooke him 3 years to be able to finally got enrolled in that specific University, what made him transfered from his old major to finally joined Medicine, that was one of his dreams. Jack turned on his laptop and started looking for apartments, after all he didnt feel comfortable at all returning to live with his parents at age 20. It was just temporary.

He looked out the window and it was raining hard. Hopefully, where his parents are now on their trip, it's not raining like this.

The doorbell rang throughout the house, making Jack sigh. He looked at the small clock on the laptop screen: it was 8 pm. Who would it be? He slowly dragged himself on the stairs, down to the first floor and opened the door.

"**_Kate?_**" He frowned. "_**It's everything all right?**_" He looked at the girl standing in front of his door. It looked like she didn't want eye contact.

"**_Can I sleep here tonight_**?" She asked in a weak, almost inaudible voice. From the sound of that voice, he knew she was crying.

It took him a few seconds to respond. "_**Katie, what happened?**_" Jack put his arms around the girl to warm her up. She was all wet from the rain. He gently pulled her inside, still not having an answer to his question.

He put a dry towel around her, while his eyes pleaded for an answer.

"_**They fought again**_." Kate finally answered. "S**_he ran away and when I arrived, she was gone. I don't want to be alone with him._**" Her eyes filled with tears again. Jack hated seeing her like this. Since he met Kate, five years ago, he knew that Diane and Wayne are always fighting. He always I knew that these fights are heavy, and that they scare Kate a lot most of the time, but he had never seen her like this.

"_**Did Diane just leave the house? Didn't she text you, nothing?**_" Diane was not the best mother in the world, but he knew that she cares about her daughter. "_**Maybe she went to the police**_." He knew about Wayne treating her like trash.

"**_She would never do that._**" Kate wiped her own tears. "**_She is going to come back ... but why did she leave me there?_**" She asked in a tearful voice.

Jack pulled Kate into a hug, she immediately buried her face in his chest. "**_She might be a reason, don't worry._**" He tried to calm her down by stroking her curls. "**_Did you try to contact her?_**" Jack asked, Kate shook her head.

"**_So you need to call her, or text her._**" He tried to sound reasonable.

"_**Why**_?" It was difficult to control her crying. "**_If she wanted to, she would have taken me along._**"

"**_Things aren't always that easy ... she must have had her reasons, as I said._**" Jack noticed that her body was beginning to shake, and she was freezing. Those wet clothes were not doing well.

"**_Are you by her side now?_**" The girl screamed through her tears.

"**_I'm not, I'm just trying to say that-_**" Jack broke off, that wasn't going to get them anywhere. "**_You need to change these clothes._**"

"**_I didn't bring any._**" She tried to wipe away the tears but they kept coming back.

"_**No problem, I'll lend you something, okay?"**_

After a few seconds, Kate agreed. She clung to Jack's arm as they went up the stairs to his room. He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a shirt, handing it to Kate.

"**_I'll be right back, I'll get us something to eat._**" Jack said amiably and went down to the kitchen.

Opening the refrigerator, he found pizza, and took some pieces, putting them in the microwave. While he waited, Jack took his cell phone, and scrolled until he found Diane's name. He stared at her contact, wondering whether to send a text message or not, but the microwave beeped, bringing him back to reality.

He took two glasses of juice and put everything on a tray, going up the stairs to enter the room again. Jack stopped when he saw Kate lying on her bed, already asleep. He smiled a little, but when he realized that she was still wearing the same wet clothes he sighed. Should he change her clothes? Or should he wake her up? She definitely couldn't sleep using that.

"_**Kate.**_" He shook her slightly. "**_You need to take these clothes off._**" She didn't move. How did she sleep soundly so fast? She must be exhausted. "_**Kate?**_" She made a sound that was certainly not a word. He chuckled and bit his lower lip. "**_Okay, umm, Im changing your clothes then, alright?_**" He said, the last thing he wanted in the world was for her to see him doing it.

Gently, he helped her sit up, and leaned her against his chest. His hands pulled her purple shirt over her head, and he gasped when he saw several bruises on her back and belly. He frowned, maybe Was Wayne the responsible for that? Kate never said anything about him to beat her up though, only slaps.

It made perfect sense now why she didn't want to sleep alone with Wayne at the house.

His fingers lightly touched one of the bruises on Kate's stomach. She shivered and suddenly opened her eyes violently, moving away from Jack.

"**_Hey hey, it's okay. I couldn't let you sleep in those flooded clothes._**" His eyes looked at her as if begging for forgiveness. "I tried to wake you up but you didn't answer." Jack handed his shirt to her again. Kate put it on as quickly as she could. Her eyes still open widely, scared.

"**_I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you._**" He sighed, and moved closer to her.

"**_Its okay..._**" She smiled weakly and lay down again.

"_**You still have to take off those pants,**_" he said, putting a lock of hair behind her ear. Jack gently took off the sneakers she wore, but Kate didn't move. "**_Kate, you're going to be sick in wet clothes._**" He noticed a small tear running down her face.

"**_Hey, I promise everything is gonna be okay_**." His eyes never left her, it broke his heart to see her like this.

Kate moved on her back and unzipped her jeans, pulling them down. Jack finished taking them off, and got up to take the wet clothes to the laundry.

"_**Where are you going?**_" Kate sat on the bed, hugging her legs.

"_**I'm just taking your clothes to the laundry.**_" He explains, and at this very moment Kate gets up.

"**_Can I go too?_**" She still looked so sleepy.

"**_Sure, if you want to._**" Jack broke into a smile. She wasn't mad at him after all. They went down the stairs, and she sat on a chair that was in the laundry room while he put the clothes in the washing machine. "Tomorrow you can use them again" He tells her, and when he turns around, Kate's eyes are almost closing again.

Quickly, he crouched down in front of her. "_**I'm going to take you to bed.**_" He whispers to her, taking her in his arms and returning to the bedroom.

Putting her on the bed, Kate's eyes opened again. "_**Are you going to sleep here?**_" She asked, her voice drowsier than ever.

"_**In my parents' room**_" He wasn't planning this, but he didn't want to take away her privacy.

"**_You can sleep here_**" She said, holding his hand. He smiled.

"W_**hatever you want**_." He replied, kissing her hand. Jack took off his T-shirt and jeans, and put on his pajama pants. As soon as he lay down on the bed, Kate came over to him. "**_Thank you for taking care of me_**"

Jack kissed her on the head. He knew what Kate's life was like. Her father was rarely present, as he was part of the army. Diane worked all day, and in the evenings, she was always with Wayne. Or fighting, or dating him. This since Kate was 5 years old. Wayne was the worst stepfather anyone could have, and now seeing those bruises, he was just even more angry with him.

Kate was not his responsibility, they were just friends. But she was only 16, and had already been through so much. She was one of his best friends, and he couldn't leave her now.


End file.
